Processing systems may at times experience malfunctions or disruptions which cause the processing system abruptly to shut down or otherwise become inoperable. For example, a computer system may experience a software or a hardware problem which causes the computer system to reboot or otherwise become inoperable with little or no notice. Typically, a processing system that abruptly becomes inoperable does not have the resources to establish a communication session with a remote system in which to communicate reasons for the inoperability.